Ghetto Blocks

[mickey]

Greetings,

I purchased this set when I first saw the advertisment (I feared there would be a backlash from the way the ad presented the style and the dvds would disappear). I have been interested in seeing Jailhouse Rock for a very long time. When I viewed the set I really did not think too much about what I saw because the Instructor was interacting with people who appeared to be strangers to fighting.

I recently had the opportunity to see footage of Roy Jones Jr (I was lurking at EF ). The flavor of Jones's method and that of the Instructor on the tape are identical. I found it ironic because I have always classified Roy Jones Jr's boxing approach as "Enforcer Style."


http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...74&q=roy+jones

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyZby...ch=roy%20jones

Well????


mickey

[SevenStar]

zab judah was interviewed on star and bucwild's morning show about his fight with mayweather. judah said the he knows 52 blocks - His incarcerated uncle taught him. Zab is a brooklyn native.

[htowndragon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etwYO...zab%20judah%20

[NeedsPractice]

I have grown up in brooklyn, and still live here outside of martial arts forumsand internet I have neverheard of jailhouse rock as a style per se.Which doenst mean it doenst exist.
Growing up just about everybody practiced boxing or slapboxing to some extent, and some people developed thier own way of moving.
I could definitely see an older brother,relative or friend passing on stuff that he might have picked up in prison or from winning a few fights, but thats the natural progression of martial arts anyway before they get systematic..
I am sure the techniques are nothing special compared to muay thai, wing chun, silat, or kali, but the average guy in jail has his neck on the line and has all the time in the world to train, fight and condition himself so that is a definite edge over somebody who isnt under that kind of pressure. Even the mma guys at the worst have to only take a beating not get beat to death.

[NeedsPractice]

Greetings,

I purchased this set when I first saw the advertisment (I feared there would be a backlash from the way the ad presented the style and the dvds would disappear). I have been interested in seeing Jailhouse Rock for a very long time. When I viewed the set I really did not think too much about what I saw because the Instructor was interacting with people who appeared to be strangers to fighting.

I recently had the opportunity to see footage of Roy Jones Jr (I was lurking at EF ). The flavor of Jones's method and that of the Instructor on the tape are identical. I found it ironic because I have always classified Roy Jones Jr's boxing approach as "Enforcer Style."


http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...74&q=roy+jones

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyZby...ch=roy%20jones

Well????


mickey

Tape yourself next time you practice or spar, and watch yourself. Is your style of fighting rythmic? Is the style that you are learning rythmic? Sometimes the rythms are very complex.

[SevenStar]

zab judah was interviewed on star and bucwild's morning show about his fight with mayweather. judah said the he knows 52 blocks - His incarcerated uncle taught him. Zab is a brooklyn native.

who knows... he also commented that he didn't think it was that well known outside of east NY. But all of these people are getting it SOMEWHERE...

[NeedsPractice]

who knows... he also commented that he didn't think it was that well known outside of east NY. But all of these people are getting it SOMEWHERE...

Compared to some places brooklyn is big, but in reality there are only some sections that are a little out of the way,

To someone not from certain areas it may sound "impressive" but growing up
"boxing", and "slap boxing" with other kids ( nearly everybody did) I just see it as a progression of something you did as a kid except now more serious.
Add to that irregular rythmic movement patterns that you learned playing games as a kid................



Somebody mention one style was having your back against a wall and all you did was defend.
Look at how roy jones fights , hands low slipping, ducking and hitting back sometimes before the guy can throw the punch........he said when he was kid he would have to fight with one hand tied behind his back
zab judah same thing sometimes
first you defend , then offense becomes defense...
Is silat still silat without the indonesian rthyms to the movements or is it jujitsu?

[SevenStar]

Compared to some places brooklyn is big, but in reality there are only some sections that are a little out of the way,

To someone not from certain areas it may sound "impressive" but growing up
"boxing", and "slap boxing" with other kids ( nearly everybody did) I just see it as a progression of something you did as a kid except now more serious.
Add to that irregular rythmic movement patterns that you learned playing games as a kid................

I think every kid from any hood has done is share of slap boxing. I grew up in VA and did plenty. I dunno of anyone who took it seriously enough to develop it into their fighting style though. Not in the sense of something they would teach to someone.

Is silat still silat without the indonesian rthyms to the movements or is it jujitsu?

you lost me on that one... the rhythm is characteristic style. look at capoeira, silat, kali... Of course, silat without the rhythm is still silat, but it would be a very different silat.

[NeedsPractice]

My point was that if you emulate a rythmic based fighting style but dont have the rythmic base that it is used with it you will be lacking.
A good example is an article somebody posted on silat and how often(usually) the foreigners who learned silat didnt have the same intensity or way of movement of the indigenous people who brought thier entire cultural experience to it , regardless of how long they practiced it, or how serious a student.

[Prof Myles]

[qwertyuiop

[Shaolindynasty]

I think every kid from any hood has done is share of slap boxing

Slap boxing is a hood thing? I didn't know that. I used to do that all the time when I was young. I figured everybody messed around like that

[NeedsPractice]

My point wasnt that slap boxing is a "hood thing", my point was that alot of kids brought thier own rhythm and ways of movement or style to slap boxing just like they do to basketball or dancing for example, to a degree not seen from "other people". So in that BASIC sense to me 52 blocks or whatever you want to call it is just an extension of that ( slap boxing ).
Simiiar to how there are multiple variations of silat coming from the same culture, or multiple versions of capoiera. Any fighting style that comes from a culture that heavily attached to rythm / music will reflect that to some degree.
Sure people will slap box or play basketball all over the world but you will see differences in how its done, and the degree of originality or conformity.
Looking at the chinese arts from one style to the next you will see different rhythms in the movements and ways of movement from one skilled practioner to the next, look at a more regimented society( japan) while stylistic differences may exist the general movement and rythm of the culture is pretty regimented- less allowance for individuality, finding your own rhythm.

[Eddie]

[qwertyuiop

Wheres the rest of this post? I’d be very interested to hear what a professor had to say about African fighting arts.

[Sho Nuff]

Jail house/ 52 blocks was part of the street culture in NY, not just Brooklyn. Growing up in Harlem during the 70's we all learned a small part of it slap boxing. You wouldn't get the technical details as someone on the inside who is training, but you would learn how to hold your own. You also learned what worked and what didn't....fast. The days of getting a fair one are over.

I know you can say kids all over the country slap boxed as kids, but it's not the same. I was a military brat so I was moved around alot. The slap boxing I saw in the other areas didn't look like what we were doing in NY,(as a kid I thought we just didn't things "cooler". We had more style). Not realizing until later why we did things the way we did.

No one stood like a boxer. Our elbows were always up, hands always moving; over our heads, under the elbows. We never asked why we did it that way. You understood once you went up against someone that did.

[nyhakka]

52 Blocks does exist. It isn't seen much anymore even in NYC, but it was popular durind the late 80's, early 90's. Actually, every setion of every boro in NY had it's own style. For example, Brownsville called their fighting style "Never Ran Never Will"(if you can call it a name). Mostly there was Bushwick Style, Morris Pk Style, ect. throughout the 5 Boros. The Zulu Nation, 5 Percenters, and Ball Buster were the most known for having fighters of these style types. they're mostly hybrids from martial artists and militray mean that were incarcerated during the early 70's and focused on techniques that worked in the prison system, combined with the type of "gurrella tactics" that domintes prison life made for an effective style. but it's main downfall was that it was undeciplined, and therefore not many could use the styles sucessfully for very long. Also now people don't give the "fair one" they shoot. Hope this helps.